( 24 ) 



44. This last tree being considered equal to cutch for steamer 

 , ir , , , it i fuel purposes, and great dissatisfaction 



Wood-fuel vs. coal discussed. , . / ° -, ■, ,-, -m , -n 



having been expressed by the h lotilla 

 officials, regarding the restriction lately placed by Government on 

 the felling of the latter variety of tree, I shall take this opportunity 

 of expressing my views on the subject. Wood for steamer fuel is 

 stacked on the banks in piles 10' x 10' X 3' 6", and is said to con- 

 tain 1,000 billets, which have been roughly estimated to represent 

 16 cwt. of coals — the hourly consumption of fuel when under 

 steam. The stacks are generally made up of Cordia, Sibia, Dillenia, 

 and also Inga. The steamer authorities were so averse to the res- 

 triction lately placed by Government on the cutting of cutch, that 

 they seemed to think it would shortly be found more economical 

 to burn coal than wood, if the prohibition was not removed, though 

 they had no data to support their views. This led me carefully 

 to note up to Mandalay the pressure of steam and revolutions per 

 minute, when steaming under coal and when under wood-fuel. 

 The difference was comparatively nil, which I pointed out to Mr. 

 Nicol, Superintending Engineer of the Company. Experiments 

 made by Marcus Bull in America, and M. Prelet of France, go to 

 prove that the same weight of dry wood of every kind has the 

 same heating power, therefore the main point for consideration is 

 the respective weight of the different woods, and I do not think the 

 difference in the specific gravity of cutch and the other woods in 

 use is sufficient to warrant dissatisfaction being shown to the res- 

 triction on using cutch. Again, in drawing a comparison between 

 wood-fuel and coal, it must always be borne in mind that wood 

 dried in the ordinary way — and that, too, in a far less damp climate 

 than Burma — 25 per cent, of its moisture remains undissipated, 

 consequently the remaining 75 per cent, of combustible matter is 

 proportionately diminished, for the heat that would be produced by 

 the same quantity of perfectly dry wood is actually wasted in the 

 conversion of latent moisture into vapour. Now, in the case of 

 the fuel we shipped, I noticed the larger proportion of the stacks 

 was made up of unseasoned wood; under these conditions the 

 value of wood-fuel vs. coal, or a comparison between jungle-woods 

 and cutch, is simply valueless. 



45. The following list represents the birds noted from Bangoon 

 T . . -«.. » to Mandalay, but I have not recorded 



List ol birds. . , , i i i i_ 



the exact place where each was ob- 

 served, as this information has already been supplied by Mr. A. 0. 

 Hume, who has kindly identified my collection, and noted their 

 habitat in " Stray Feathers," a periodical that must be in the pos- 

 session of all interested in birds : — 



